Steel Empire - GBA

Tigershark · Post by **Tigershark** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 11:03 am

I remember the old Mega Drive version from yesteryear and how much I enjoyed it. I saw the GBA version on offer on Amazon for a fiver and so bought it for playing on my DS. It should arrive today. I hope it's as good as I remember it.

Any other GBA shmups for serious consideration?

genetik · Post by **genetik** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 11:32 am

Iridion II is nice. Developped by the same guys who made Nanostray, so it plays and looks similar. I prefer Steel Empire GBA though.

http://www.iridion2.com/about/screens.html

Ceph · Post by **Ceph** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 11:47 am

Gradius, obviously. The second speed-up makes your ship slightly too fast, but it's a very good title nonetheless.

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 7:27 pm

There's also Darius R, which is a decent remake of the first arcade game (only 15 levels instead of 28 though), Astro Boy which has some shmupiness to it, and Iridion if you're a fan of 3D shmup stuff like Galaxy Force II. There's also Phalanx, which is a port of the SNES game, and it turned out quite nice. Avoid R-Type III: The Third Lightning on the GBA though... they broke that game badly.

You can also look into Sigma Star Saga. It mixes Action RPG gameplay with shmup levels (they're used in place of the typical RPG battles).

shinsage · Post by **shinsage** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 7:29 pm

Coop you actually liked Darius R? It was my first import game and I was so disappointed...incredibly bland compared to the likes of G and Gaiden.

Steel Empire is tits, tho.
I think I may prefer the Genesis original more, but the remake added a more vibrant pallette which I think is great. Love that box art too...
We need some more steampunk games.

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 7:40 pm

shinsage wrote:Coop you actually liked Darius R? It was my first import game and I was so disappointed...incredibly bland compared to the likes of G and Gaiden.

It's basically a port of the original 1986 arcade game, with a few changes here and there, so it's going to look "worse" than the stuff that came out years later.

Tigershark · Post by **Tigershark** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 7:51 pm

It's arrived and the first thing I noticed is that this game is going to make my fingers sore! Jesus. Dodging all manner of ships left, right, from above and below and shooting forward and backwards (but not at the same time

). Shit, this game's going to hurt.

Like it though

subcons · Post by **subcons** » Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:37 pm

I played the shit out this one along with Gradius before I offed my GBA and all the games I had for it. Those are really the only two shooters worth owning on the system, but they're both excellent.

This one definitely feels more cramped than the MD version. Sprites are larger and the screen is smaller. But I like the brighter color pallette. I could see how some might like the muted color pallette of the MD version though. I pretty much had the stages down up until the fourth one or so. Then the difficulty gets insane, especially if you die and lose your power ups. I never did beat it. Good luck with it.

qatmix · Post by **qatmix** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 5:49 am

there is a great shooter called invader on the gba, the only vert ive really enjoyed on it,

Turrican · Post by **Turrican** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 1:03 pm

All the suggested games are cool, Tigershark, but keep in mind that imho Steel Empire is the absolute best of the bunch on GBA. The only mentioned game that surpasses it is Astro Boy.

subcons · Post by **subcons** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:14 pm

Turrican wrote:All the suggested games are cool, Tigershark, but keep in mind that imho Steel Empire is the absolute best of the bunch on GBA. The only mentioned game that surpasses it is Astro Boy.

Astro Boy is excellent. But I consider it technicaly not a shooter. A definite must-own if you have a GBA though.

Andi · Post by **Andi** » Thu Apr 05, 2007 9:33 pm

The Coop wrote:You can also look into Sigma Star Saga. It mixes Action RPG gameplay with shmup levels (they're used in place of the typical RPG battles).

Sigma Star Saga is a terrible shooter but a fine RPG. That's something to keep in mind.